We’re happy to announce that our new project is up and running over at cloud.tv. We’ve already released Cloudskipper, our Android music player. Currently, we don’t have plans to redo the mixtape experience, however we are working on equally fun ideas for socializing the music experience, this time between devices and platforms instead of through the internet.

You may have noticed in the past few days we’ve had quite an influx of French mixes. No, Mixwit isn’t sponsoring the Tour de France this year. It turns out we were featured Thursday morning on the French television show, Télématin. It’s a bit hard to keep up on French pop culture over here in California, but as we understand Laura “du Web” Tenoudji’s segment is quite popular.

It’s always amazing for us to see people from all over the world enjoying Mixwit. Thanks Laura and bienvenue to all of our new French friends!

1. Start with a Buddy Holly song. Every mix tape that starts with a Buddy Holly song gets a smile going 10 seconds after you press play.

2. Pick a song with the name of the person you’re making the tape for – depending on the name. All Marthas love The Beatles’ “Martha My Dear,” but all Beths hate Kiss’s “Beth” – and what Roxanne really wants to hear “Roxanne” again?

3. It’s useful to ponder what kind of mood you’re trying to create. If it’s an angry break-up tape, you must include the Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen in Love”. If it’s a sad break-up tape, you must include Frank Sinatra’s “The Night We Called It a Day”. If it’s a make-out tape, try Al Green’s “One of These Good Old Days”. If it’s a road-trip tape, you’re going to throw in The Clash’s “Janie Jones”, the music gods’ gift to automotive technology.

4.Twenty-minute avant-jazz freakouts? Some other time.

5. Try to put the Aretha Franklin song at the end of Side One – no matter who the next singer is, they’re going to sound sickly and timid trying to follow the Queen of Soul.

6. Mix it up stylistically. If you were in the mood to hear the same kind of music for 45 minutes at a time, you’d just put on an actual album.

7. Think of a different silly title for each side of the tape, such as Hall Side and Oates Side, or Pork Side and Beans Side.

8. Cut out scrapbook pictures of old movie stars and use them as a cover for the tape case. (I’m partial to Ava Gardner in The Hucksters.)

9. When in doubt, James Brown. You’re never not glad to hear him, especially after a few too many Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley ballads.

10. If you’re a male, and you happen to be making this tape for a female in whom you have some sentimental or carnal interest, think twice about including Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman” or AC/DC’s “Let Me Put My Love Into You”. Trust me on this one.

One of our YC mob family forwarded us a link to a fun set of articles in The Independent (UK) covering all sort of recent mixtape nostalgia:

The recordable cassette represents the momentmusic was first put in the hands of the masses. For those who couldn’t strum a guitar, a mix tape was the ultimate expression of youthful (self-)obsession. And an underground cassette culture continues to flourish, courtesy of a new online coalition. Each month, the members of the International Mix Tape Project put a home-made cassette in a Jiffy bag and send it to one of their 1,200 fellow participants, in 30 countries on six continents. All it takes is for Ryan Goldman, the project’s founder, to email each member with another member’s name and address and – hey presto – music-sharing the old-school way. Cassette from my Ex is a blog where writers share their mix-tape memories of past flings and stream the resulting soundtrack for everyone to enjoy.

They also have pointed out a bunch of great sites for sharing and listening to real mixtapes:

International Mix Tape Project – puts a home-made cassette in a Jiffy bag and send it to one of their 1,200 fellow participants, in 30 countries on six continents.

Cassette from my Ex – blog where writers share their mix-tape memories of past flings and stream the resulting soundtrack for everyone to enjoy.

The Independent also includes interviews with 10 artists, writers, and editors including Jamie Lidell (song writer), Jonathan Lethem (novelist), Conor McNicholas (editor NME), and Paul Smith (Maximo Park) who talk about past experiences with making mixtapes. Each also contributes a playlist of songs from a mixtape they’ve made in the past or they’d make now.